Rhode Island’s occurrence databases hold just 21 star-nosed mole records, the thinnest tally of any small mammal in this group. That low count says more about how hard the species is to find than about how many actually live in the state’s wetlands.
Wetland threads through the western uplands
Arcadia Management Area’s network of streams and beaver wetlands, fed by the Wood River watershed, cuts through its pine-oak forest and gives a star-nosed mole the saturated soil and streamside tunnels it needs. The mole rarely turns up on the drier ridges between those wet corridors; its tunnels have to open into water or waterlogged ground to work.
A mole that hides even where it’s doing fine
Most of what does turn up in the state comes from Ninigret National Wildlife Refuge, where small freshwater wetland pockets sit tucked in among the refuge’s better-known salt marsh and coastal pond. A star-nosed mole spends nearly its whole life underground or swimming through flooded tunnels, so even good wetland habitat logs a report only when someone happens to dig one up or catch it crossing open ground.
Status in Rhode Island
The star-nosed mole is native to Rhode Island, per USGS NAS and NatureServe Explorer records. NatureServe ranks it S4, apparently secure, close behind its globally secure G5 rank.
